The Job Outlook for Current Graduates

SHOES shined and resume in hand, 21-year-old Jason S. Gardner waited on the station platform here last week for the train to Manhattan, where he would begin his job search. Mr. Gardner, a 1994 Cornell University graduate, recently joined the ranks of an estimated 1.1 million new bachelor's degree holders nationwide who are looking for work in what economists say is a fiercely competitive market.

The good news is that following a four-year drought on the employment scene, jobs are difficult but not impossible to find, although recent graduates like Mr. Gardner will have to work hard to ferret them out.

Career counselors at colleges report that in the scramble for a relatively few available positions, job seekers with an exemplary college record and previous work experience are faring best. Carving a Niche

"The outlook for this class is slightly better than it has been in quite a while, but the competition is keen," said Jody Queen-Hubert, director of cooperative education and career services at Pace University. "Employers are looking for the brightest students, with the best grades, who are also outgoing and have been involved in campus activities. A degree alone is not enough."

To stand out from the crowd, Mr. Gardner, who majored in business management and marketing, is promoting his bent for turning ideas into cash -- what he called "the entrepreneurial, go-getter side of me." In career-counselor jargon, he is carving a niche for himself in the job market.

High on Mr. Gardner's resume is a description of a business he started at Cornell selling used compact disks. He said that as director of sales, promotions and marketing for the fledgling company, he generated revenues of $2,500 in three months and realized a 700 percent return on his investment.

"I'm featuring what makes me unique," he said, "because I know this is a buyer's market."

But the competition for jobs is not only among peers. Graduates are also up against highly experienced displaced workers who are willing to re-enter the marketplace at competitive prices, said Frank M. Surdey, a regional economist with the State Department of Labor.

In Westchester -- where downsizing among large corporations has forced many workers onto unemployment lines -- the jobless rate for April, the latest month for which figures are available, was 5.3 percent, up from 4.6 percent for the same month a year ago. Meanwhile, the number of jobs grew only slightly, to 371,300 this April from 370,800 last April.

While this year's graduates offer youth, freshness of vision and a willingness to accept entry-level salaries, observers say they often lack the needed experience.

"Learning on the job is not a realistic option anymore," Ms. Queen-Hubert said. "To compete, graduates have to be able to hit the ground running." And while job market analysts suggest that practicality is the key to success in 1994, Mr. Gardner -- who said he wants to put his skills to work in the music industry -- added that for now, at least, he will hold firm to his ideals.

"At this point in my life, it's not just the dollars that matter," he said. "I want to work hard and get ahead, but I also want to do something I love. I'm not willing to be stuck in a cubicle turning figures for a big-name company just to take home $40,000 a year."

Michele Caporusso, 22, who graduated summa cum laude from Pace University in Pleasantville with a major in human resources management, is also worried about finding a job. Despite her good grades, part-time work experience and outgoing personality, she has received only one job offer -- at what she said was "a shockingly low salary." Willing to Supplement Income

Disappointed so far with the results of her job search, she recently moved back into her parents' house to save money, although she remains optimistic about eventually obtaining work in her field.

"All I want is to get my foot in the door," she said. "It's not like I expect the perfect job right off." For now, she said she would accept a part-time job in a personnel department, supplementing her income with work as a hostess at a restaurant.

Mr. Gardner, who has also moved home to hold down expenses, said, "This may be the prudent thing for now, but it's not what most of us want for the long run."

While the job outlook is guarded for most college graduates, it has proved even more difficult for those holding only a high school diploma.

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"That's the bare minimum for a select number of lower-end jobs," said Mr. Surdey at the Department of Labor, "but it certainly won't put the world at your feet."

At Mount Vernon High School, Richard Brass, a counselor, said that he did not encourage any student to settle for just a high school diploma. "It's unrealistic," he said.

Last year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that almost 25 percent of high school graduates who did not go on to college and wanted jobs were still unemployed by October, compared with 21 percent of each year's new graduates in the 1980's and 16 percent in the 1970's. In other words, the statistics showed that even though the economy was growing, the options for students with just a high school diploma have diminished. Higher Metropolitan Area Salaries

Mr. Surdey said that high school diploma holders typically worked as home health workers, correction officers, travel agents and security guards -- with some positions paying only slightly more than the $4.25-an-hour minimum wage. Many highly paid blue-collar jobs, on assembly lines, for example, were vanishing, with those duties being increasingly performed by robots.

By contrast, starting salaries of college business majors like Mr. Gardner average $23,820 nationwide, according to the College Placement Council in Bethlehem, Pa. That figure is as much as $10,000 higher in metropolitan areas.

At Pace, Ms. Queen-Hubert said that accounting majors could expect to earn close to $30,000 a year with large firms and $22,000 to $25,000 at a smaller company. Graduates accepting jobs in insurance, sales and marketing were typically earning in "the low 20's," she said.

Many companies, which discontinued yearly recruitment drives at college campuses during the recession, have resumed the practice.

"We saw an increase for the first time in five years," Ms. Queen-Hubert said. "Not a lot, but an increase." Some Temporary Openings

At Armonk-based International Business Machines, where the work force dropped to 256,000 a year ago worldwide from 406,000 in 1986, a spokesman, Scott Brooks, said the computer giant was "still doing some hiring, although it was down from previous years."

"We are out there recruiting people in the computer sciences, engineering and programming," he said. "But it's incredibly competitive."

At Nynex in White Plains, there are no new jobs to be had in Westchester, said Jaimie DePeau, a spokeswoman. There are, however, some temporary job openings in the New York City area for splicers, installers and service technicians. Ms. DePeau referred to those positions as "craft jobs for those with high school diplomas."

"For business managers, administrators, we have nothing," she said.

At Bradlees Department Store in Yonkers, which employs more than 300 workers, Ray Polayes, the general manager, said he was hiring clerical and sales help at above-minimum wages. And for those with college degrees, there were managerial and administrative job openings in new stores in the expanding chain, paying "in the 20's and 30's," he said.

Ms. Queen-Hubert at Pace University said students would be wise to look at small- and medium-size companies that are growing, like Bradlees.

But she also cautioned that many firms are hiring new workers on a temporary basis only, as a way to avoid paying benefits.